Thursday, 31 August 2023

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Chewy 100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

The best recipe is from Tasty. In developing this recipe, I have adapted the recipe from Tasty to reduce the sugar amount, but it is still super chewy. This post is thus the reduced sugar post. I have made another post that followed the exact sugar level of Tasty here.

The winning proportion between flour, butter and sugar is 1:1:1.3 respectively.

Small Batch

Makes 7 large cookies or 32 medium cookies

Ingredients:

110g white whole wheat flour (You can also use plain wheat flour)
112g butter
50g of chocolate chopped as desired (I use 50g of Premieur Chocolate Bar Dark 85%. You can also use milk chocolate or a mixture of both)
50g chopped walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts as desired (optional)
145g sugar consisting of 100g brown sugar and 45g white sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Nescafe decaf coffee powder (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
1/2 tsp cocoa powder (optional)

Large Batch

Makes 15 large cookies or 64 medium cookies

Ingredients:

220g white whole wheat flour (You can also use plain wheat flour)
225g butter
100g of dark, milk and white chocolate chips
100g chopped walnuts or chopped almonds or hazelnuts
290g sugar consisting of 200g brown sugar and 90g white sugar
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Nescafe decaf coffee powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla powder (optional)
1 tsp cocoa powder (optional)

Short Instructions:

Combined wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Don't overbeat the eggs.

Oven temperature: 175 degree Celsius

Bake Time: 12 minutes (large cookies) or 7 minutes (medium cookies) or until golden brown on the edges but the middle still look doughy.

Detailed Instructions:

1. In a separate bowl, mix flour, vanilla powder, Nescafe, cocoa powder, baking soda and nutritional yeast and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar and white sugar until combined and creamy. You can do by hand or machine.

3. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until incorporated.

4. Mix in the dry ingredients using a spatula or spoon until combined.

5. Add chocolate chips and chopped walnuts and mix well.

6. Refrigerate the dough for an hour or overnight for optimal flavor (This step is if you want perfection, but the cookies still taste great skipping this step.)

7. Use a trigger-release ice-cream scoop (equivalent to 3 tablespoon size) to form 6 cookies on each tray. If you don't have an ice-cream scoop, not to worry, just use a spoon.

8. Bake at 175 degree Celsius for 12 - 15 minutes for large cookies or 7 minutes for medium cookies or until golden on the edges. Take them out when they are just barely starting to turn brown and still look doughy.

9. Let them sit on the baking tray for 2 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

10. Once cooled, enjoy :-)

Storage:

Store in an air-tight container. Will last up to 7 days. If you prefer your cookies to stay soft and chewy, place a fresh slice of white bread inside the airtight container with them. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread, keeping them perfectly soft for days without making them soggy.

Will last up to 3 months in the freezer sealed in air-tight container or  heavy-duty freezer bag. Just let them thaw at room temperature for about 30 to 60 minutes before eating.

To get that "fresh out of the oven" taste, warm them up in the oven at 150°C (300°F) for 3-5 minutes just until they are warm and the chocolate begins to glisten. This perfectly restores the crisp edges while melting the chocolate chips without making the cookie soggy.

Additional Information:

Yeh, I am so happy I have finally succeeded in making chewy chocolate chip cookies, and they are even 100% wholewheat too!! 

These 100% whole wheat chocolate chip cookies are very nutritious as they have much more protein, minerals and dietary fiber than the average non-wholewheat cookie, but they are still full of butter, sugar and chocolate. Thus they are dessert, not a main course or salad. You can call them a nutritious dessert :-)

I have failed many times while trying to bake the most chewy chocolate chip cookies, as they usually turned out cakey, instead of chewy *. So now I decided to follow this recipe from Tasty.co faithfully (apart from omitting salt since the butter I used is salted and adding cornstarch). I have left out the cornstarch, nut the cookies made from this recipe turned out so good - absolutely delicious, chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The downside is that this recipe is SINFULLY UNHEALTHY thanks to the amount of sugar used relative to other recipes that I have come across. I guess this must be the reason that gives it the chewy texture. Everyone at home loves them. These cookies are very addictive, but everyone is aware that this is only going to be for an occasional rare treat.

Cookie is made up mainly of flour, fat, sugar, but it is the wining combination of these ingredients that enables a cookie achieve the heavenly melt-in-your-mouth chewiness. The sugar content must be higher than the flour in order for the cookie to be chewy. I used 30% more sugar compared to flour. And to use the same amount of flour with the same amount of oil.

Here is the link to the original recipe:

I find that it is not necessary to go through the trouble to melt the butter over the stove top, that is too much work. I didn't heat or melt the butter. I simply used soft butter and I still achieved the heavenly "melt-in-your-mouth" chewiness.

I discovered after a few rounds of experiment that the "melt-in-your mouth" chewiness is mostly credited to the sugar content in the cookies. The greater the sugar content, the more chewy the cookie is. In general, the ratio of sugar to flour has to be higher, around 3:2, in order to achieve the "melt-in-your-mouth" chewiness that we all desire in a chocolate chip cookie.

I tried using the more nutritious white whole wheat flour instead of white flour. It turned out fantastically great and retained the same kind of "melt-in-your-mouth" chewiness. 

For the small batch as reflected in the recipe above, I have reduced the sugar content to 145g consisting of 100g brown sugar and 45g granulated sugar and they still retain the same chewiness. The large batch recipe above also follows the same adjustment.

I also tried substituting butter with olive oil. The cookies still tasted good, soft but were no longer in the league of "melt-in-your-mouth" chewiness.

Refrigerating chocolate chip cookie dough overnight gives it more flavor primarily because enzymes break down large carbohydrates and proteins into simpler, more flavorful compounds while the dough slowly dries out, concentrating its taste. A 24-hour rest yields the most dramatic transformation in color, texture, and complex flavor. 

When you let cookie dough rest in the fridge, a few key scientific processes happen simultaneously to transform its flavor profile:

1. Breakdown of Flour (Enzymatic Hydrolysis)

As the dough rests, naturally occurring enzymes in the flour begin breaking down large, tasteless starch molecules into simple sugars like fructose and glucose. This breakdown enhances the overall sweetness and provides better fuel for Maillard browning and caramelization during baking, resulting in a rich, almost butterscotch-like depth of flavor. (https://www.seriouseats.com/cookie-dough-chilling-tests-11872674)

2. Moisture Evaporation and Concentration

Even when wrapped, a prolonged stay in the refrigerator allows free moisture in the dough to be absorbed by the flour or slowly evaporate. As the dough dries out slightly, the concentration of the remaining ingredients—like sugar, fat, vanilla, and salt—increases. This mimics the process of marinating, leaving you with a more concentrated and intense flavor. (https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2015/05/17/chilling-cookie-dough)

3. Flavor Melding

Freshly mixed dough tastes like its individual components sitting next to one another. Over 16 to 24 hours, the fats, extracts, and liquids fully emulsify and intermingle. This allows subtle aromatic flavors, like vanilla and the richness of the butter, to evenly distribute and permeate the entire mixture. (https://www.instagram.com/reels/C2TksB-MhYR/) (https://www.seriouseats.com/cookie-dough-chilling-tests-11872674)(https://www.reddit.com/r/seriouseats/comments/121x947/are_there_advantages_to_letting_cookie_dough_rest/)

4. Less Spreading

The butter solidifies completely. When baked, the fats melt much slower, preventing the cookies from turning into thin, flat puddles. (https://tastecooking.com/chill-cookie-dough-baking/)

5. Perfect Chewiness

The flour thoroughly hydrates by absorbing liquid from the eggs. At the same time, gluten strands relax, producing a cookie that is crisper on the edges and beautifully chewy in the center. (https://www.wkiri.com/today/?p=1154)

* Below are the three recipes that I have tried and the cookies turned out cakey :-(




References:



https://www.momontimeout.com/giant-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies_28/

https://www.bobsredmill.com/blog/baking-101/how-to-make-chewy-cookies/

https://bakerbettie.com/the-science-of-the-chocolate-chip-cookie/

https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/30254/difference-in-cookie-texture-if-we-use-melted-vs-softened-butter

https://www.purewow.com/food/how-to-keep-cookies-soft

https://www.seriouseats.com/cookie-science-how-do-eggs-affect-my-cookies

https://www.mytastednk.com/o/chokolade-sm%C3%A5kager-som-lidl-49285057.html

https://www.lidl.dk/p/bake-off-kager-og-soedt/triple-chocolate-chip-cookie/p34119

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U80aSRBAAY0

https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies/

https://thebalancednutritionist.com/whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies/#wprm-recipe-container-11515

https://fooddoodles.com/thick-and-chewy-100-whole-wheat-chocolate-chip-cookies/

This is white whole wheat flour. You can also use plain flour, but I like to use this flour because it is more nutritious, provides more dietary fiber, and still achieve the same chewy "melt-in-your-mouth" mouth feel :-) You can buy it from Føtex Supermarket for 27 DKK a pack. It goes on offer quite frequently at 20 DKK. So watch out for the promotions :-)

Brown sugar available from Netto or Føtex.

Cane sugar available from Netto or Føtex.

Vanilla powder available from Føtex Supermarket

Dark chocolate available from Netto or Føtex Supermarket.

In a large mixing bowl, add 100g of brown sugar.

Add 45g of granulated sugar.

Mix well.

Add 112g of softened butter

Mix until combined by hand or mixer.

Add an egg and an egg yolk.

Mix until combined by hand or hand-mixer. Don't over-beat.

In a separate bowl, add 110g of white whole wheat flour.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder (optional).

Add 1/2 teaspoon of cacao powder (optional).


Add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Mix well.

Mix in the flour. I like to sift it into the cookie dough, but it's probably not so necessary.

Combine the wet ingredients and the dry flour ingredients.

Now the dough is done.

Add chocolate chips anywhere between 50-100g as desired. I usually add 50g.

Mix well.

Add 50-100g of desired nuts. They are so nutritious. It also provides a nice crunch. We usually add 100g of mixed nuts.

Mix well.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1-2 hours or even overnight. This prevents over-spreading when the cookie is being baked in the oven.

Scoop into 9 large balls, but only place 6 dough balls on each tray, as they would spread as they are being baked. I like to use trigger-release ice-cream scoop, but using a spoon will do too.

You can decorate it with a few chocolate chips on each dough ball if you wish (optional)

Bake at 175 degree Celsius for 12 - 15 minutes for large cookies or 7 minutes for medium cookies or until golden on the edges, but soft and moist in the middle. Take them out when they are just barely starting to turn brown and still look doughy.

Let them sit on the baking tray for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.

Now it's done :-)



Friday, 25 August 2023

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Five Minutes Copycat Homemade Japanese Mayonnaise (Kewpie Mayo)

  

Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise :-)
Ingredients:

1. 2 egg yolks (I use pasteurized egg yolks)
2. 1 tsp Dijon mustard (heapful) (or 1 level tablespoon)
3. 1 tsp lemon juice
4. 1 short turn of the salt shaker (0.5g)
5. 150ml sunflower oil or any other neutral cooking oil
6. 1/2 tsp of soy sauce
7. 1 tsp rice vinegar (optional)
8. 1/4 tsp honey (optional)
9. 1 short turn of the salt shaker (0.5g)

Directions:

1. In a glass jar, add egg yolks, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt and oil into a stick blender.

2. Place blender to the bottom of the glass jar and start blending.

3. As soon as you notice the bottom of the jar quickly turning thick and white, move the blender up slowly about an inch, and continue blending.

4. Keep moving up slowly until the whole mixture is emulsified. It take about 5 minutes.

Tips:

After it is done, Stir in 1-2 more teaspoons of lemon juice if you prefer and add some other seasoning such as chili sauce etc. as desired :-)

Video Demonstration:



Additional Information:

Mayonnaise is made of simple few ingredients. My family love this homemade mayonnaise. Unlike store-bought mayonnaise, which contains lots of preservatives and chemical, you may not be buying a real thing. When you make it yourself, you can use fresh ingredients and you are in control of what goes into your mayonnaise. 

After trying out various methods (by hand, using food processor, etc.), I find that using a stick blender gives the best consistency and the fastest results. It is also the ideal method to simply whip up a small portion easily. It is mess-free and it is blended into thick and smooth mayonnaise within 2-5 minutes. Using this method also gives you fluffy and a bigger volume of mayonnaise with the least amount of oil. Some recipe calls for 250ml to 1litre of oil, but this recipe uses only 150ml of oil. Mayonnaise if made from home can be very nutritious as it is rich in proteins and vitamin Bs from the egg yolks - just what a growing teenager needs!!! But it contains far less oil and unhealthy fats compared to the store-bought ones.

And it is a lot cheaper than the store-bought ones too. It's a win-win-win :-)

Mayonnaise is a oil in water emulsion (O/W emulsion). Although it is simple, for it to be successful, the ratio of oil to water must be between 75 - 83%, otherwise it breaks. The best mayonnaise is made of egg yolk instead of whole egg. The best consistency between water and oil proportion is 30% water and 70% oil.

Introducing the oil too fast and over-blending may also break the emulsion. Thus, it is important to start blending when the stick-blender is all the way in the bottom, as when it starts to emulsify, the blending will pull in more oil on its own. Dijon mustard gives it a bit of kick and also helps in emulsifying. 

The secret ingredient in Japanese Mayonnaise is the soy sauce. It gives the Japanese mayonnaise a umami taste.

Warning: Don't add too much soy sauce, it will back fire. Just 1/2 tsp is perfect and gives it the unami tangy flavor of the Japanese mayo.

References:


I use pasteurized egg yolks shown above, which are sold in all supermarkets in Denmark such as Netto and Føtex. 1 container contains 2 egg yolks.

Here are the 5 ingredients you need to make mayonnaise: egg yolks, Dijon mustard, lemon, salt and sunflower oil or other neutral cooking oil.

Soy sauce

You need a glass jar with lid and a stick blender. Remember to save your jam jars instead to make and store mayonnaise :-)

When you blend, place the stick blender into the bottom of the jar and start the blending. From blending to storage, you will be using only one container. This saves time and washing up effort :-)


Add 2 egg yolks (I use pasteurized egg yolks)

Add 1 heap teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

Add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.

Add 1 pinch of salt.

Add 150ml sunflower oil or any neutral cooking oil.

Place blender to the bottom of the glass jar and start blending.

As soon as you notice the bottom quickly turning thick and white, move the blender up slowly about an inch, and continue blending.

Keep moving up slowly until the whole mixture is emulsified. It takes about 5 minutes.

The base mayonnaise is done :-)

To make copycat Japanese mayonnaise, add 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce

Blend until combined.

Add 1 teaspoon of Japanese rice vinegar.

Blend until combined.

Add 1/4 teaspoon honey.

Blend until combined.

Done :-)

Enjoy :-)

Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise :-)

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